Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Where did all the arguments go?: argument-changing properties of classifiers in asl

  • Published:
Natural Language & Linguistic Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of American Sign Language (ASL) classifiers from a syntactic and morphophonological point of view, and addresses issues related to (1) the ways that classifiers can participate in expressing argument structure alternations – in particular, the transitive–intransitive and the unergative-unaccusative alternations in a morpho-syntactic way; and (2) the ways that 'productivity' within classifier systems can be formalized morpho-phonemically. For ASL classifiers, we claim that there are two basic syntactic types those that are associated with the internal argument and those that are associated with an external agentive argument. We claim that classifiers project syntactically as (functional) heads and that they determine the status (as external or internal) of the argument that lands in their Spec. We identify a discrete agentive morpheme in ASL classifier constructions, on phonological and syntactic grounds, a morpheme which is responsible for the agentive readings in two types of classifiers. The phonological representation needed to express this morpheme expands the range of possibilities of templates used in prosodic morphology. This paper contributes to general linguistic theory in providing support for a (morpho-)syntactic analysis of argument structure alternations and in demonstrating how morphological templates can be used to account for the relation between morphological and phonological form in ASL classifiers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2000. Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allan, Keith. 1977. 'Classifiers', Language 53, 285–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amberber, Mengistu. 2000. 'Valency Changing and Valency-encoding Devices in Amharic', in R.M.V. Dixon and A. Aikhenvald (eds.), Changing Valency. Case Studies in Transitivity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 312–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bahan, Ben, Judy Kegl, Robert Lee, Dawn MacLaughlin and Carol Neidle. 2000. 'The Licensing of Null Arguments in American Sign Language', Linguistic Inquiry 31, 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benedicto, Elena. 2002. 'Verbal Classifier Systems: The Exceptional Case of Mayangna Auxiliaries', Proceedings of WSCLA 7th, UBC Working Papers in Linguistics 10, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, pp. 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benedicto, Elena. 2003. 'D[class] as Parasitic Features in the Verbal Functional Realm: A Crosslinguistic Look at Verbal Classifiers', Paper Presented at the II Encuentro de Grama´tica Generativa, Buenos Aires, August 2003.

  • Benedicto, Elena and Diane Brentari. 2003. 'Choosing an Analysis for Verbal Classifiers in Sign Languages. A Comparative Evaluation', Ms, Purdue University.

  • Benua, Laura and Hagit Borer. 1996. 'The Passive/anti-passive Alternation', paper presented at GLOW 1996.

  • Bergman, Brita and Lars Wallin. 2001. 'The Discourse Function of Noun Classifiers in Swedish Sign Language', in V. Dively, M. Metzger, S. Taub and A. Baer (eds.), Sign Languages: Discoveries from International Research, Gallaudet University Press, Washington DC, pp. 45–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borer, Hagit. 1994. 'The Projection of Arguments', in E. Benedicto and J. Runner (eds.), University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 17, GLSA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, pp. 19–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borer, Hagit. 1998. 'Deriving Passive without Theta Roles', in S. Lapointe, D. Brentari and P. M. Farrell (eds.), Morphology and Its Relation to Syntax and Phonology, CSLI, Stanford, pp. 60–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borer, Hagit. in press. Structuring Sense. An Exo-Skeletal Trilogy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

  • Brentari, Diane. 1998. A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brentari, Diane. in press. 'The Use of Morphological Templates Specifying Handshapes in Sign', Linguistische Berichte.

  • Brentari, Diane and Carol Padden. 2001. 'A Language with Multiple Origins: Native and Foreign Vocabulary in American Sign Language', in D. Brentari (ed.), Foreign Vocabulary in Sign Language: A Cross-linguistic Investigation of Word Formation, LEA, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 87–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brentari, Diane and Elena Benedicto. 1999. 'Verbal Classifiers as Heads of Functional Projections: Evidence from ASL', in S. F. Bird, A. Carnie, J. D. Haugen and P. Norquest (eds.), Proceedings from the 18th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, Cascadilla Press, Somerville, MA, pp. 69–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Robert. 1981. 'Semantic Aspects of Some Waris Predications', in K.J. Franklin (ed.), Syntax and Semantics in Papua New Guinea Languages, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa, pp. 93–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, Lisa L.-S. and Rint Sybesma. 1999. 'Bare and Not-So-Bare Nouns and the Structure of NP', Linguistic Inquiry 30, 509–542.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The Minimalist Program, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clements, G. 1985. 'The Geometry of Phonological Features', Phonology Yearbook 2, 225–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crasborn, Onno and Els van der Klooij. 1997. 'Relative Orientation in Sign Language Phonology', in J. Coerts and H. de Hoop (eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 37–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denny, J. Peter. 1976. 'What are noun classifiers good for?', Papers from the Twelfth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago Linguistics Society, University of Chicago, pp. 122–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmorey, Karen. 2003. Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, LEA, Mahwah, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth. 1993. Space in Danish Sign Language, Signum Verlag, Hamburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, Susan and Joan R. Forman. 1980. 'Deep and Surface Anaphora in ASL', Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.

  • Glu¨ ck, Susanne and Roland Pfau. 1998. 'On Classifying Classification as a Class of Inflection in German Sign Language', in T. Cambier-Langeveld, A. Lipta´ k and M. Redford (eds.), Proceedings of Console VI, SOLE, Leiden, pp. 59–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, Teresa. 1996. Projecting Transitivity and Agreement, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Lrvine.

  • Grimshaw, Jane. 1990. Argument Structure, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, Kenneth and Danilo Salamanca. 2002. 'Theoretical and Universal Implications of Certain Verbal Entries in Dictionaries of the Misumalpan Languages', in W. Frawley, K. Hill and P. Munro (eds.), Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas, University of California Press, Los Angeles, CA, pp. 25–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, Kenneth and Jay Keyser. 1993. 'On Argument Structure and the Lexical Expression of Syntactic Relations', in K. Hale and J. Keyser (eds.), The View from Building 20, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 53–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hale, Kenneth and Jay Keyser. 2000. Prolegomenon to a Theory of Argument Structure, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito, Junko. 1990. 'Prosodic Minimality in Japanese', in M. Ziolkowsky, M. Noske, and K. Deaton (eds.), Chicago Linguistic Society 26, vol. 2, Papers from the Parasession on the Syllable in Phonetics and Phonology, Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago, pp. 213–239.

  • Jacobsen, William H. 1980. 'Washo Bipartite Verb Stems', in K. Klar, M. Langdon and S. Silver (eds.), American Indian and Indo-European Studies: Papers in Honor of Madison S. Beeler, New York, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 85–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janis, Wynne. 1992. Morphosyntax of the ASL Verb Phrase, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York, Buffalo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Kyle. 1991. 'Object Positions', Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 9, 577–636.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Robert and Scott Liddell. 1984. 'Structural Diversity in the American Sign Language Lexicon', Papers from the 20th regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago, pp. 173–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kegl, Judy. 1990. 'Predicate Argument Structure and Verb-Class Organization in the ASL Lexicon', in C. Lucas (ed.), Sign Language Research: Theoretical Issues, Gallaudet University Press, Washington DC, pp. 149–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Kratzer, Angelika. 1996. 'Severing the External Argument from its Verb', in J. Rooryck and L. Zaring (eds.), Phrase Structure and the Lexicon, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 109–137.

  • Levin, Beth and Malka Rappaport-Hovav. 1995. Unaccusativity. At the Syntax-Lexical Semantics Interface, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liddell, Scott. 2003a. 'Sources of Meaning in ASL Classifier Predicates', in K. Emmorey (ed.), Perspectives on Classifier Construction in Sign Languages, LEA, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 199–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liddell, Scott. 2003b. Grammar; Gesture; and Meaning in American Sign Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liddell, Scott and Robert Johnson. 1987. 'An Analysis of Spatial-Locative Predicates in American Sign Language', Paper Presented at the 4th International Symposium on Sign Language Research, Lappeenranta, Finland.

  • Liddell, Scott and Robert Johnson. 1989. 'American Sign Language: The Phonological Base', Sign Language Studies 64, 197–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lillo-Martin, Diane. 2003. 'Morphology and Syntax of Verb Agreement in Sign Languages', Workshop conducted at the Jornadas del Comahue de Lingu¨´stica de Lenguas de Sen~;as, San Martín de los Andes, Argentina.

  • Lombardi, Linda and John McCarthy. 1991. 'Prosodic Circumscription in Choctaw Morphology', Phonology 8, 37–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLaughlin, Dawn, Carol Neidle, Ben Bahan and Robert Lee. 2000. 'Morphological Inflections and Syntactic Representations of Person and Number in ASL', Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes 29, 73–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marantz, Alec. 1984. On the Nature of Grammatical Relations, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marantz, Alec. 1997. 'No Escape from Syntax: Don't Try Morphological Analysis in the Privacy of Your Own Lexicon', in A. Dimitriadis and L. Siegel et al. (eds.), University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 4.2, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, pp. 201–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathur, Gaurav. 2001. Verb Agreement as Alignment in Signed Languages, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsuoka, Kazumi. 1997. 'Verb Raising in American Sign Language', Lingua 103, 127–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, John. 1979. Formal Problems in Semitic Phonology and Morphology, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, John and Alan Prince 1986. Prosodic Morphology Ms, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, Betsy. 1982. Aspects of the American Sign Language Predicate System, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, SUNY Buffalo.

  • McKoon, Gail and Talke Macfarland. 2000. 'Externally and Internally Caused Change of State verbs', Language 76, 833–858.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meir, Irit. 2001. 'Verb Classifiers as Noun Incorporation in Israeli Sign Language', in Yearbook of Morphology 1999, Foris, Providence, RI, pp. 295–315.

  • Meir, Irit. 2002. 'A Cross-Modality Perspective On Verb Agreement', Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 20, 413–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neidle, Carol, Judy Kegl, Dawn MacLaughlin, Ben Bahan and Robert G. Lee. 2000. The Syntax of American Sign Language, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padden, Carol. 1988. Interaction of Morphology and Syntax in American Sign Language, Garland, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, Terence. 1990. Events in the Semantics of English, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylkkanen, Liina. 2002. Introducing Arguments, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quadros, Ronice Mu¨ ller de. 1999. Phrase Structure of Brazilian Sign Language, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Pontifícia Universidade Cato´ lica do Rio Grande do Sul.

  • Rappaport, Malka and Beth Levin. 1986. 'What to Do With Theta-Roles', Lexicon Project Working Papers 11, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandler, Wendy. 1989. Phonological Representation of the Sign, Foris, Dordrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schick, Brenda. 1987. The Acquisition of Classifier Predicates in American Sign Language, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senft, Gunter. 2000. Systems of Nominal Classification, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shay, Robin, 2002. Grammaticalization and Lexicalization Analysis of Fingerspelling, unpublished MA thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Supalla, Ted. 1982. Structure and Acquisition of Verbs of Motion and Location in American Sign Language, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, San Diego.

  • Supalla, Ted. 1985.' The Classifier System of American Sign Language', in C. Craig (ed.), Noun Classification: Proceedings of a Symposium on Categorization and Noun Classification, John Benjamins, Philadelphia, pp. 181–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Valin, Robert. 1990.' Semantic Parameters of Split Intransitivity', Language 66, 221–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Valin, Robert. 1993. Advances in Role and Reference Grammar, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Edwin. 1981. 'Argument Structure and Morphology', The Linguistic Review 1, 81–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woll, Bencie. 2001. 'The Sign That Dares to Speak its Name: Echo Phonology in British Sign Language (BSL)', in P. Boyes Braem and R. Sutton-Spence (eds.), The Hands are the Head of the mouth: The Mouth as Articulator in Sign Languages, Signum, Hamburg, pp. 87–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Sandra. 1999. Semantic and Syntactic Aspects of Negation in ASL, unpublished MA thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Sandra. 2000. 'Object Shift in ASL', Ms, Purdue University.

  • Zwitserlood, Inge. 1996. Who'll Handle the Object, unpublished MA thesis, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linguistics Program, Purdue University, Heavilon Hall 307B, IN, USA

    Elena Benedicto

  2. Linguistics Program, Purdue University, Heavilon Hall G39, IN, USA

    Diane Brentari

Authors
  1. Elena Benedicto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Diane Brentari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Benedicto, E., Brentari, D. Where did all the arguments go?: argument-changing properties of classifiers in asl. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22, 743–810 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-003-4698-2

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-003-4698-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation